


When the Night has Come

by ramblingsofagaysian



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Short One Shot, Song Lyrics, Vanity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 03:20:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17399066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramblingsofagaysian/pseuds/ramblingsofagaysian
Summary: Vanessa has been having nightmares since being released from hospital and Charity is there to comfort her through it all.





	When the Night has Come

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this post ( https://writ-ing-promp-ts.tumblr.com/post/181776989956/imagine  
> ) and although it's shorter than I'd like, I just kinda felt the need to churn this out. I've dived head first into this ship and I just love them to pieces.
> 
> Thank you knightinrainbowarmour for encouraging me to write this anyway

The room is still plunged in darkness when Charity begrudgingly stirs awake. She looks over to the alarm clock on the bedside table. 3am. It’s just as she turns to grumble and go back to sleep that she hears a whimper.

Vanessa. She’s normally so peaceful in her sleep, to the point that you’d think she was dead if it weren’t for the gentle rise and fall of her chest. But lately she’s been unable to get a decent sleep.

It’s been a month since she was released from the hospital and got to come home, but the damage from the stab wound had been more than just physical. And at time like this, it shows. 

She’s twitching in her sleep, another pained cry falls from her and tears stream down her face, staining the pillowcase beneath her head. She looks so much smaller here. This is how Vanessa, her dear sweet Vanessa, has been most nights. Some nights though, not so much. 

On some nights, she’s tossing and turning, thrashing as she screams. It breaks Charity’s heart, seeing her like that. 

So she does what Vanessa has done for her, time and time again. She gently wraps her arms around her and lifts her up, giving her a small shake, “Vanessa, babe. Wake up, it only a nightmare. It’s me, wake up”.

* * *

There’s a hooded figure in front of her, a bright red petrol can in hand. He’s tossing the fuel over the door of The Woolpack, her home and where her girlfriend is.

Her body moves towards him, she’s yelling, asking him what he’s doing. Her heart is racing, the danger imminent. She knows how this goes, how it always goes every time she sees it. It’s as vivid as it was the first time. 

She’s reliving this over and over and over again, and she’s powerless to stop it. 

She knows it’s just a nightmare. Nothing but a bad dream. But it just. Won’t. Stop. 

The tackle. The tumble to the concrete. The sharp excruciating pain of broken glass cutting through her skin and into her gut. The red of her blood soaked hand. The red heat of flames as they climb out of the bin and up the door. Watching him steal her car. Seeing her son being taken. 

Her baby boy being taken away from her. 

A voice permeates through the veil of this horror.

“Vanessa, babe. Wake up, it’s only a nightmare. It’s me, wake up”.

* * *

With a sharp gasp, Vanessa is pulled from her nightmare. It takes her a moment to come back to the present, to see where she is. Her heart is still racing, and her face is wet with tears.

She’s in Charity’s bedroom. Their bedroom. 

Charity is rocking her back and forth, cooing into her ear, “It’s fine, everything is fine, everyone’s okay. I got you, babe. I got you”. 

It takes her a moment to realise that she’s got a grip of Charity’s shirt. Any tighter, and she’d be tearing right through it. A sob is pulled from her lungs and she buries her face into Charity’s neck. 

It still baffles Vanessa at times, how comfortable she feels in the arms of a woman, how well she fits. Especially in the arms of Charity Dingle. But here she is, and Charity is still murmuring sweet nothings into her ear.

The smooth sound of her girlfriend’s voice and the gentle circles being traced on her arm eventually soothes her heart and mind, the tears have stopped falling and the sobbing calms to a small hiccup. They sit like that for what could have been hours, but it’s still dark and the outside world has yet to pierce their little bubble.

Charity lays them back down, now that Vanessa is no longer a tight ball of anxiety. They lie there for another half an hour before her pyjamas are being crumpled in a white knuckled fist again. 

So she does the only thing she can think of. She hugs her closer and, barely above a whisper, 

_When the night has come_

_And the land is dark_

_And the Moon is the only light we see_  

The closed fist loosens slightly. 

_No I won’t be afraid, no I won’t be afraid_

_Just as long as you stand, stand by me_

The small blonde curls into her side that bit more, eyes screwed shut with a small furrowed brow. 

_So Darlin’, Darlin’,_

_Stand by me, oh, stand by me_

_Oh stand, stand by me, stand by me_

She strokes her thumb gently across her brow and the lines relax beneath her touch. 

_If the sky that we look upon_

_Should tumble and fall_

_Or the mountains should crumble to the sea_  

Her hand moves to wipe away the remaining tears on Vanessa’s cheek. 

_I won’t cry, I won’t cry,_

_No I won’t shed a tear_

_Just as long as you stand, stand by me_

Vanessa shifts again, pressing her face into the crook of Charity’s neck. It seems to have become her favourite way to fall asleep.

_And Darlin', Darlin',_

_Stand by me, oh stand by me_

_Oh, stand now, stand by me, stand by me_

She can feel Vanessa’s breath as it brushes past her collarbone.

_Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me_

_Oh, stand by me_

_Stand by me_  

Charity presses a kiss to the top of her head just as her breath evens out, and with the tiniest whisper carried across it,

“I love you, Charity”.


End file.
